ARLINGTON, Texas -- For five seasons, Ndamukong Suh has been pretty guarded with his emotions. He has often been stone-faced, analytical and not willing to show much of himself publicly -- especially after games.

Yet as he trudged up to the podium Sunday afternoon after the Detroit Lions' season ended with a 24-20 wild-card loss to the Dallas Cowboys, everything changed. Suh was clearly shaken, visibly upset and so emotional he had to leave the news conference to gather himself.

This was a side of Suh that, at least publicly, had never shown up before. He rarely lost his cool when asked about his contract, the sometimes questionable nature of his play or anything else.

He has handled all of that without losing himself. Then came Sunday when he couldn’t compose himself at all.

“I’m just speechless,” Suh said after he returned to the podium to compose himself. “I feel like we played as hard as we could. We played very, very hard. We put it all out there. This team put it all out there.

“Like I said, I didn’t expect this outcome. It’s sickening.”

It’s tough to explain why the emotion came now. Suh couldn’t explain it, other than to say this was not what he expected, not how he thought this season -- this week -- was going to end after the scheme the Lions prepared and a solid week of practice.

This loss, at least from the way Suh reacted, crushed him. Before he even started speaking with the media, through his low voice and reddened eyes, he asked for questions to be focused solely on Sunday’s game.

He didn’t want to discuss his future Sunday, which makes sense because of what is going to come.

Sunday night starts what will be months of questioning whether this was Suh’s final game as a Detroit Lion. He is eligible for free agency in March and if this was his finale with Detroit, he went out in the same dominant fashion he has played his entire five season with the Lions. He was in the backfield often against Dallas, forcing Tony Romo to make fast decisions and sacking him on back-to-back plays to push the Cowboys from the red zone to a 51-yard field goal.

“I don’t know the numbers but I did see him make a lot of tackles, also sacks,” Lions coach Jim Caldwell said. “I think he was disruptive, as he normally is.”

Suh had three tackles, two sacks and two quarterback hits -- although as is typical his presence was more than just his numbers.

All season long, Suh has been the player who Detroit’s stout defense has revolved around. He is the polarizing player who receives the most attention from the media, from the fans and from opposing offenses. He has been the perfect player for Detroit's scheme this season, and if he so chooses for what the Lions will want to do in the future.

Detroit’s players and coaches have routinely espoused how much he has meant to the defense and what defensive coordinator Teryl Austin has schemed up this season.

So what would Detroit’s defense would have been like without Suh?

“Hate to imagine it,” Lions defensive end Darryl Tapp said. “Hate to imagine it, man.”

Tapp, like Suh, Nick Fairley, C.J. Mosley and others on the defensive line are all free agents after the season. Austin will have head coaching interviews this week. So there could be a massive shift coming to the Lions in the next few months.

Change could be coming to Detroit. Change possibly without Suh, possibly without Austin and possibly without others.

And it's something the Lions still do not want to think about -- although, now that the season is over, the future of Suh is something that becomes the major focus of the organization.